Best of Katharine

[selenak]

My recent watching of The Aviator has reminded me once again of my great, great fondness for Katharine Hepburn. And I wondered that, legendary as she still is, whether there won't be a sizable portion of the audience who comes to the film solely because of Leonardo di Caprio, or Martin Scorsese and has never seen a single Hepburn picture. In the

Comments

[artaxastra]

You've recced two of my favorite films of all time, The African Queen and Lion in Winter. Though I must point out that the Evil Germans (tm) in The African Queen are not Nazis, since this is WWI not WWII! However, since they only show up for the wedding, this is a very minor detail! I dearly love this movie and second the rec enthusiastically!

As to Lion in Winter, it's just incredible. And the very young Timothy Dalton also rocks! What can one say about it? Other than it inspires one to go buy books, lots of books?

[selenak]

Lots of books indeed.*g* And thanks for the correction, you're right, these are WWI Evil Germans (tm). Bad me. Must obviously refresh my memory and watch again. Ah, the sacrifice.

Incidentally, did you see the tv remake of The Lion in Winter? I hear it stars Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close, but it hasn't made it across the Atlantic yet.

[artaxastra]

I have not seen the remake of Lion in Winter. However, I've been part of two stage productions in college, neither of which was great. Ok, neither of which was very good!

[estepheia]

Oh yeah! She was fantastic. I loved her in John Wayne's second Rooster Cockburn movie. Which was, I believe, very strongly inspired by African Queen, but still....
Marvellous woman.

Thanks for the quotes.

[selenak]

I loved her in John Wayne's second Rooster Cockburn movie. Which was, I believe, very strongly inspired by African Queen, but still....

Oh yeah, it was definitely African Queen Goes West, but who cares, if it's done entertainingly and well?

Since you liked the quotes, here's another one from Katharine Hepburn, describing John Wayne, from her memoirs:

A face alive with humor. Good humor I should say, and a sharp wit. Dangerous when roused. His shoulders are broad - very. HIs chest massive - very. When I leaned against him (which I did as often as possible, I must confess - I am reduced to such innocent pleasures), thrilling. It was like leaning against a great tree. His hands so big. Mine, which are big too, seemed to dissappear. Good legs. No seat. And the base of this incredible creation. A pair of small sensitive feet.

[willowgreen]

Thank you for reminding me of some of my favorite movies! "The Lion In Winter" started a five-year obsession with Eleanor of Acquitaine. I haven't ever seen "Summertime" or "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," though. Time to update my Netflix list.

[likeadeuce]

oh, more recs to add to netflix. . . actually, I've seen and loved most of these, but not Summertime. Don't know why I haven't seen ALL of Lean's films, b/c I always love them.

somehow, I've never seen High Society (I usually love musicals but rarely seek them out . . . and speaking of musicals, how's this for utter tangential randomness: my grandmother's first cousin, Betty Garrett, is one of the leads in "On the Town"; her son with Larry Parks, Andy Parks, plays one of the Pylean priests on "Angel" -- kid you not).

Some of the sexism in The Philadelphia Story is hard to watch -- particularly that one scene you mentioned -- but if you fast-forward that part and look at the way Connor and Dexter (in his way) love her for what she is, I think the film overall embraces her character. And that's a truly marvelous drunk scene -- I think you mean Jimmy Stewart, though, at least in the film, though I can see how Connor & Cotten's character in Citizen Kane would have gotten along! Stewart's usually a paternal figure for me (first saw

[wychwood]

^ I was going to say Jimmy Stewart, but you beat me to it :) The Philadephia Story is the only Hepburn film I've seen any of - I don't really watch films at all - but it was pretty good, what I saw of it.

Of course, you have to watch things in context. What comes across as dreadfully sexist now isn't so bad when you pretend it's (eek!) 1940. I have trouble explaining this to my brothers sometimes - you know, they'll be saying, oh, what's so interesting about Kirk kissing Uhura onscreen? and they just have no clue about the historical context and how important it was at the time...

[selenak]

See reply above - Cotten was in the original stage production, and as I had been re-reading biographies, this made for my slighting of Mr. Stewart due to it having been late this side of the Atlantic.*g*

Oh yes, context is everything. Same with Guess who is coming to dinner? - these days, of course, Sidney Poitier coming to present himself as a future son-in-law would just have most parents be utterly delighted (though sadly not all), but in the 60s?

[selenak]

True about Jimmy Stewart, though in my defense Joseph Cotten was in the original stage production, and I have been rereading biographies and the like, so my mind switched them.

[lynnb]

Love your choices, but I always liked the other Phillip Barry play turned into a movie that Hepburn and Grant did, Holiday, in 1938. Have you ever seen it? Grant plays a free spirit who is planning to marry a snooty rich girl, and Hepburn plays her sister, who falls in love with Grant because she's just like him. Lew Ayres plays their alcoholic brother, and is really good.

I also loved one of her early RKO films, Stage Door, about a theatrical boarding house for women. Kate plays a rich girl who longs to be an actress, and tries to fit in with the others, including Ginger Rogers, Lucille Ball, and Eve Arden. Very well done, plus it has that famous line, "The calla lillies are in bloom again." :)

[selenak]

I haven't seen Stage Door, but I did see Holiday and loved it. You're right, it's great.

(Trivia: it was a scene from Holiday which she used for her screentest, as she had done the play on stage before. George Cukor and David Selznick were impressed, and the rest is history.)

[lynnb]

Thanks for the trivia bit :) You might say Phillip Barry saved her career.

I love your icon, where is it from?

[selenak]

The photo was made by an amazing man named Prokudin-Gorskii, who travelled through imperialist Russia and documented same. The icon was made by kathyh when I asked her to. The quote is from James Elroy Flecker.